Thursday, March 31, 2011

I know this is Thursday but I wanted to let you know what I did on Wednesday.

I was unable to make the Live Cash game at Jokers last night. I went to an Open House at my Dad's Assisted Living facilities last night and then went grocery shopping with my wife. Something we needed to do since we were running low on supplies.

I guess you could call it a day off from the table and maybe that will help me recharge after playing the week prior. Maybe to rethink strategy after loosing the $85 at the table last night. I understand variance so I am not concerned but need to figure out how to play certain hands and to relook at my betting and why I am entering pots.

I am trying to read the board texture and what it could mean for me as well as the other player. My main concern is that I don't want to be bluffed off of a hand by over thinking the possibilities. I have now gone back to rereading "Harrington on Cash Games" and hope this might help me or at least give me more things to think about. Then I hope I don't get into brain freeze by over thinking.

I am also thinking about playing in the Friday tournament tomorrow because I need to play and get ready for the Seniors event at NorthernQuest on April 5. I am happy with my Tournament play and hope I do well. Again it is the betting part that concerns me.

Actually I have been busy reading and then working on the stock market as well. One of my stocks is in the middle of giving a dividend and I have been looking for my next stock to get into. I have been working on building that capital as well. So far I am down in the account due to some commissions that I have paid for stocks that haven't moved.

Now that I am done with the three months of post surgery I will start going to Physical Therapy today. Hopefully this will help the neck and strengthen the muscles.

Wednesday, March 30, 2011

I head down to the Casino about 8PM to make sure I get a seat at the table if they are going to have a live game tonight. When I get there the seats are starting to fill up so I quickly take seat 9 and buy my chips for the night.

In seat 2 and 5 are the two teenagers that were there the other night. They buy in for about $40 each and hope to build it through the night. We started out with six players tonight and immediately I get two pair and loose to a full house. This put my chip stack down early and I figure I just need to be patient and pick my spots.

About 15 to 20 minutes into the game we have a full table. Two of the ones that sat down are playing very loose aggressive. The hands I want to limp in with to see a pot are raised to the point it is not worth it to call them so I let them go.

Throughout my time playing tonight I didn't get any type of hands that would let me play and if I did nothing on the flop helped with such big raises being put out.

I am back to reading "Cash Games" by Dan Harrington. See if I can pick up anything I have missed in reading his book the last time. Need to watch the game at Live@thebike from last night as well.

Weekly Total: -$110

This week I seem to be giving what I got last week back.

I am spending some more time looking at the Stock Market and Dividends. I would like to find some stocks that would pay dividends on a Monthly basis.

Monday, March 28, 2011

I headed down to the Casino a little after 8PM to make sure I got a seat at the Live table. After waiting for about an hour for the players to show up we only had three of us with money on the table.

So, tonight is one of those nights when we don't play. I knew this going in when I started just playing live games. I have been there for tournaments and watched as no one showed up for the live game afterwards.

This gave me time to talk with one of the casino dealers about putting on other games instead of just $2-$20 or $2-$40 limit spread. I told them about NorthernQuest and how they are working with new players at the
$1-$2 level and that is helping to bring in new players and helping them
grow to other limits. We will see what happens.

My Weekly Total (WT): -$25

Yes, this week I am starting out in the hole. I used some of my bankroll for something other than poker so now I need to cover that.

Early Retirement Extreme: I have been reading the blog and catching up on his 21 days of retirement. I finished them today and must say he has some good ideas. Some of them would be hard to accomplish but will be able to do some of them in moderation. There is always ideas you can get out of his writings that will help anyone trying to retire early.

Sunday, March 27, 2011

I have enjoyed the weekend and now it is time to get back to the action.

I have done some poker study and watched some Live@thebike. I really enjoy the blogs that I read and need to somehow figure out how I can add them to my blog list so people can see what I am reading. I did finally get the adsense going but need to do some more study on how I can make a better site. I have even thought about creating a blog with another site and do a monthly pay but this is so nice and free I just can't get away from it.

I have been very happy with Live@thebike and if you want to watch and learn from some players playing a live game you have to go to this site. You can pay to watch all of the archived videos or you can stay on the free side and have the ability to watch the two latest archived sessions. Myself, I have been watching live up until this last Tuesday since now I am in the casino playing at that time. So, during the day after the session I will watch the video in archive.

There are four announcers and they take turns doing the sessions. If you twitter the announcers they will answer your questions as well. The URL is www.thebike.com, sign up and you can get started learning. The sessions are three hours long and it is time well spent. One of the announcers is also working on putting together another site to teach online play.

My goals for last week went well and I was pleasantly surprised at what I was able to accomplish. This week I will set my goals and work on them for the next four days. This week my goals are:

1) Make $50 at the table for the week.
2) Play a total of 8 hours for the week.

I know the goals are minimal and don't really push the envelope. Especially after last week making $152 at the table. I could push that up to $100 but I want to make sure the $50 is reachable and I am playing appropriately for my bankroll. I am very happy at this time to continue to keep things small. I know where I want to end up so I will keep things attainable.

After this week is done I will make a trip up to Spokane to play in the Spring Fling at NorthernQuest. I will play in a Seniors Tournament event. I want to try some cash games up there as well. At this time the Seniors event is the goal and if I go out early I will play in the live cash games. My goal is to cash in the tournament and will gear my mind towards that one.

Friday, March 25, 2011

I have done well this week in sitting down at the poker table and playing the $2-$20 limit spread. I am not surprised at myself but I don't want to get the feeling that I will always do this well. There will come a time when I walk away from the table and will be down. I know it and at times will let the thoughts creep into my mind.

I was having a hard time talking myself into going to the casino last night. When you look at it I was up for the week to $135 and had met my goal and why go another night when you could get that loosing night. Wow, those negative thoughts in the background. I would push them out and tell myself this is what I want to do and this game is what I want to play.

At 8:15PM I headed down to Jokers Casino and walked in the door and they still had the tournament going on at this time. This just meant the game would start soon. I sat down in the number 6 seat this time since someone already took my number 9 seat. I purchased my chips for my buyin and waited for the game to start.

Down at the other end of the table were a couple of young teenagers,(18), I would imagine since that is the limit here to play. They will usually buy in for $40 and play aggressive to get the stacks to grow. They will raise just about anything to get you out of the pot. In this game I will just be patient and wait for a good hand and then play against them and hope I have the goods.

The game got started and we had a full table of nine players tonight. I start slowly to get the flow of the game and see who is doing what at the table. Who is playing loose and who is playing aggressive. I picked out the students and was waiting for the hand. I finally picked up 88 and the flop came 8xx. I made my set and now I will go after the student. He ended up going all in and I called. I rolled over my set of 8's and he turned over KK. He didn't get any help from the turn or the river and the pot was mine. He started complaining about the hand. What I have learned is you need something better than a pair in a live cash game.

The rest of the night was pretty much non eventful. We had a couple more experienced players enter the game which made me play a little bit tighter. They started throwing chips into the pot and making people give up their hands. I just sit and wait. One of the last hands I played last night was 1010 and made two pair and mine was better than the other player.

I ended up walking out with $7 added to my final tally for the week. I am now up +$142 for the week. I think the most important thing is I am playing and seeing hands and gaining the experience. Since I can't play online in this state I have to learn where I can and I enjoy sitting down playing and talking with the players. Especially the more experienced players. I was told last night that I am playing well and doing the right things. One guy told me last night that he could see a difference in my play from Monday to Thursday night. My decisions are better and I think that comes with the amount of time I have spent for the week.

My hours at the table were 7 hours at $142 for an hourly rate of $20.28. Not bad for the first week.

Thursday, March 24, 2011

Last night was my third night in a row playing at the live cash table. When I arrived at the casino I was the only one signed up on the board and they had a tournament still going. I sat there watching this tournament and was sort of missing the competition of making it to the final table and making the money being in the last four positions. I have almost talked myself into playing on Friday.

Once the tournament was down to four players more people started to show up for the live cash game. We ended up having seven individuals start the game. Tonight I was able to sit in my favorite position which is the number ten seat. It really doesn't make any difference where I sit just that I like being next to the dealer and I can read the cards a little bit better.

I started out very well tonight. Not that I was getting a lot of pots but I was playing tight and trying to read the board a little bit better. Not just jumping into pots because I had certain cards. I was trying to go in with more of a plan. I guess tonight I was playing the player more than I was playing the cards even though that does help to get good starting hands.

During the play tonight I got quad 8's. I played them slowly since they do have a Monte Carlo on these hands. I was able to add another $56 to my stack and that helped me to reach my goal for the night and to play some more hands with different cards. Amazing what a bigger stack will do for you in trying to make a pot bigger with a good hand and getting people to fold their weaker hands.

My goal again is to make $50 per week at this game right now. Tonight I was there for 1 1/2 hours and brought out $105. That pushed my weekly amount up to $135. I am well over the goal for the week. I will put most of this back into the bankroll and will give it another try tonight.

Remember me talking about boxes and how we live in boxes? I guess you would have to go back into the archives to find this one. I was thinking yesterday about boxes again. This time it is a little bit different. We need to think outside of the box.

We are taught to go to school, college, and then get the job of your choice and work for 45 years and then retire and do what you want for the rest of your days. Think about it! What do you do during that time? You get up in the morning and go to work and help someone else make the big bucks and then you come home and try to relax and go to bed at night and then get up and do the same thing over again. Don't forget the two weeks you get for that vacation that is supposed to revitalize you to carry on for the next year.

Thinking outside of the box to me is trying to come up with ways to circumvent the norm. What can I do to still maintain my living standards and be able to do the things that I want to accomplish in my life. I don't have the need to be the person in charge. I can be happy in whatever I am doing. Having the internet has opened up a lot of avenues for those that are able to think outside of the box. I guess it means getting back to basics. What did we do before the industrial revolution? What did your parents or your grandparents do for their survival? We have now moved from the industrial age to the information age. How do we make that change?

Wednesday, March 23, 2011

Last night I went to Jokers Casino to play the live cash game. The game is $2-$20 limit spread. I have to keep saying I am not a fan of this game but since it is the only one available I will keep trying to master the game.

I paid my money for the chips I was going to use tonight. Last night was a good session and I was hoping tonight would be the same. My goal is very small and I want to make $50 for the week. I have been doing my study at home and watching Live@theBike for any tidbits of knowledge I can glean from the announcers. It makes it hard when you don't have someone to bounce ideas off of when wanting to discuss hands and the proper way to play.

This evening I was not getting the hands early. My army of chips was dwindling down to a point I needed to decide whether to stay or pack it up and go home. I would be down for the night and this would take about half of my buyin. I am learning that you risk more than what is coming back into your chip stack. I guess you would call this varience. You can't expect to win every night.

I am still at the table and already we have about five people that have already busted. The person in seat nine was good, real good and was talking about the hands he was playing and what he expected the other people to do with their hands while playing. He was talking hand ranges and what he would play and not play. He was always reading the texture of the board. These are things that I need to learn.

We are about one hour and fortyfive minutes into this session and I am still here with a dwindling stack. I have decided that I was going to shut down after the button passed me one more time. About the time the button was getting close I got 22. Finally a pocket pair and lets limp in and see what happens on the flop. I was hoping a 2 would come on the flop and allow me to build back some chips. I ended up getting quite a few limpers to come along and now we wait for the flop.

The flop comes 2xx. Wow, I made the set and now it was time to build the pot. I raised and I had two callers. The turn card came out and I raised again. This time I got one caller. After the river card was played I bet out and the chips were mine. Not bad and I made some money back and still I was going to get out of the game after the button.

The very next hand I got JJ. Another pocket pair. I started to think, I could do this again. There were a number of callers and we went to the flop. 77x. I figured if someone had a 7 they would bet. I raised the pot to see if anyone would claim the pot and no one did. I ended up taking this pot as well. Now I was over the amount of my buyin. I was still waiting for the button to come around and then would walk away.

Before the button made it back to me two more people were busted out of the game and we got down to four players. At that time the game was done. I counted my chips and I was up $15 for the night. I spent 2 hours at the table tonight playing the game and thank goodness I didn't leave prior to the two hands that helped me get back.

Remember the goal is $50 per week at this time and right now I am at $30 for the week. I have two more nights to play this week and we will see if I meet my goal.

Why do I even mess with playing the stock market. It has been crazy. I am really thinking about just buying stocks that pay a good dividend and watching them grow. At this point I am mainly in cash waiting for the market to define itself. There are so many things going on in the markets that it is hard to keep up sometimes.

Tuesday, March 22, 2011

I have been wanting to play more Live Cash Games because I tend to do better at them than play the tournaments. Here at the Casino in town they like to play the $2-$20 and $2-$40 Limit spread. I am not a big fan of the two games but when that is what you have to learn on then that is what you have to do.

I am anxious to take a trip up to Spokane and visit the Casino NorthernQuest. There they have a $1-$2 game I would like to get involved with. It takes two hours to drive and with gas prices the way they are it makes that trip hard to make. I still plan on going up there on April 5 to play in the Seniors event. I know they will have some cash games going at the same time.

For those that know me you know when I play a game I am not doing it for the fun of it. I like to play the card game but if there is money involved then that is what I am after. I have done well and have basically lost my buyin only once so far in my time playing and I would like to keep learning. I have set goals for myself as well and hope to keep it going.

Last night was the first night of the venture. I want to play all four nights this week. My plan is to play with one buy in and my goal is to walk away with $50 for the week. I know that seems low but I want to start my goal low and work it up as I am getting to understand the game. My first night I walked away after 1 1/2 hours with $15. I want to play at least 1 to 2 hours at a time right now. Hopefully this will grow as time goes and I am feeling more comfortable at the table playing this spread game.

I did get a couple of good hands last night. I got AA once and was able to build the pot. I recieved 1010 and flopped a set when a 10 came on the flop. I did not play for any straights or flushes last night. I know that will have to come into play soon. Pairs and two pairs just don't make it in this game. You have to be willing to look for the higher
hands.

Bankroll: +$15

I read the next part of the Early Retirement Extreme and the next one that was dealt with was Cell Phones. This is something we have been dealing with for some time. We have been cutting back on the needs but are keeping up with the internet access since we do texting and keeping up with Facebook and Twitters. Do we need them? No, but I guess it is just one of those things we don't want to part with at this time. Our talking minutes is where we decreased the plan for now since we don't use the phone for talking.

We are nearing Tax time. I have our taxes done but have not sent them in yet since this year we owe the government. Next year will be different since I am not working.

Saturday, March 19, 2011

I decided to go ahead and play in the Friday tournament since the structure is good and I want to keep my hand going in the tournaments. I probably should have just stayed away. After 2 hours of playing and not really getting myself into any situations that would help me I ended up being in 22nd out of 34 runners.

Towards the end I started pushing my stack all in. I know the table does not like this but I was so down in the "M" department that I had to do something. I got QQ and was up against AK and QQ and split the pot when no A or K showed up. That helped a little. Then I got AA and got all in and the other person had AJ and he got a J on the flop. That really hurt my chances to make a comeback and so the last hand was came soon after.

I really want to spend the time playing in Live Cash games and get that part of my game going. I have done well and enjoy the time spent.

I have been reading "Early Retirement Extreme" and it is so interesting to see how one can live on little income. We are so ingrained to go get a job and work and buy all of this stuff that we don't need. Then of course you have to have all the credit cards and pay them off over your lifetime. You owe your life to credit and the job to pay for it. That of course is what big business wants you to do.

The first thing that is talked about is your living space. How much do you need and how much do you spend. It is worked out in dollars per month and so if you alone need space about $400/month would be good? That of course depends on size and what you are willing to live without.

The next item that was looked at was decluttering. I figure we all could do this one. We have been married for 35 years and you can imagine the stuff we have that we haven't looked at or used in a number of years. If we got rid of most of the stuff then we would definitely have more room that would not be needed. I have been using Craigslist to try and sell some of the stuff. I have used Freecycle but not lately.

The next item on the list is Food. Having a family is different but I know that we do not eat like we used to. We do visit the restaurants more these days and we need to back away from them. That would definitely help our budget. Eating better and cooking our own meals would be a good thing for both of us. I don't mind salads as long as the leafs aren't wilting. I will have to think some more on this one.

There are like 21 items on the list and I will read them all to see what we can institute and how it can work in our lives. My biggest concern right now is how do I make $100 per week. That right now would be something I would like to do. The biggest question I have is say $6,000 and I want to earn $100 per week. How do I go about this? Any ideas out there?

Woke up this morning not feeling well so lets hope we are not getting the flu. I got my flu shot this year and lets hope it holds up.

Thursday, March 17, 2011

If I can't play it at least I can watch it. I have been watching the Live@theBike broadcast the last few weeks. It is a great way to learn and watch a cash game in action. It goes for three hours on Tuesday and Friday evening and they even have them archived so you can watch them later. Good stuff with good announcers and if you twitter them they will even answer your questions on the air.

Since I have had so much stuff going on with my Mom and Dad I decided to pull out of the stock market for now. I have remained in CMI and SIRI only because that has been my plan for them but for the rest of the Small Dogs of the Dow I went ahead and took a loss and got out. Just too much going on lately. It even shows in my blog. I am not writing as often.

I decided to play poker last night at Jokers Casino in the Live Cash Game. The game is a $2-20 Limit Spread. I started the evening with $200 and quickly got it up to around $240 and was playing tight and folding early on things that didn't work out. Then I started to get hands and I failed to read the board for possible made hands by the other players. I went all the way down to around $80 and had to regroup and went back to playing tight and waiting for my opportunities again. Eventually the cards came back to my favor and I was able to get my stack back up to the $200 mark and then I left the game. It was at the two hour mark anyway and time to go home.

One of the players had KK, JJ, KK, KK, AA all in a row. We could not believe the five straight hands he got. We didn't want to play against him at all during that stretch. Another player got Quad Aces and won the jackpot for $568 dollars. That would have been nice. I can see where you don't want to just settle on pairs and you want to at least have two pair and above. We were seeing quite a few two pair, straights, flushes and a few full houses. I need to learn how to play my hands looking for the best possible and not rely on the pair to win the pot.

Today is the day that my Mom will be admitted to the Hospice care and so it is going to be a busy day. It will be nice to have some help with her and to make the decisions for us since we have made this one to get the help. I also need to go to the hospital to get my x-ray done of my neck to see how the surgery went and to make sure the wedge is in the appropriate spot and has taken well between C6 and C7. I am still in some pain but not much.

Today also the PPA is in Washington State in Olympia. I wish I could be there to help out. It is important for us to get our online poker back in the state. That was my training ground to prepare me for the casinos. It doesn't cost as much and you can see so many hands before you step into the casino and put a bigger chunk of your bankroll at risk. Now I have a bigger risk just to play the tournaments and cash games. No chance at building the bankroll unless I do it at the live tables. I hope they listen to the group that is there.

If you are looking for some good BBQ sauce you have to go to www.reedsbbqsauce.com and try them out. They have some good stuff. At least give them a try.

Sunday, March 13, 2011

Had to take my Mom to the Emergency Department the other night and ended up in the hospital for a couple of days. I spent time sitting there in the room with her. Did my share of driving to get my Dad over to see her as well. This week we will be working with Hospice to get my Mom into their care. This will put a halt to the hospital visits and work on the comfort issues that will be coming up with her.

I have not played any poker this week. I found a site online though that has two nights where they will stream a live cash game. Go to Live at the Bike and it has been interesting and I am learning from the announcers they have. Even if I can't watch it live I can watch it later since they have it in the archives. One way to learn by watching the play of these individuals. It does make me want to get out there and play some poker though. I am very anxious to sit in a live cash game and see how I do with what I am learning. I am continuing my reading as well.

Japan has been hit hard this last week as well. The earthquake and then the tsunami on top of that. So many natural disasters. Our lives are so fragile here on this earth. We need to make sure every day that we are ready for whatever may take place.

Monday, March 07, 2011

Ever since we bought this house back in 1993 I have been trying to find the landlord to fix things around this place. I have been working in the back yard lifting concrete blocks out of the dirt when I tried to lay a patio. That didn't go very well. I have been putting ads in Craigslist to get rid of them and so far I have gotten rid of 75 and I have about 10 left. I have other kinds as well, the decorative ones but so far no one is interested.

We had my birthday dinner last night and the family was here to enjoy my enchiladas and chile relleno's. Finding some good chiles is hard now days and they are breaking apart once out of the cans. I ended up making a casserole out of them and it turned out alright. I guess I will need to start doing them from scratch and picking up some chiles from the store.

I have been watching the "Live@thebike" and wow I am learning quite a bit about playing live cash tournaments. They come on every Tuesday and Friday evening for 3 hours and they discuss what the strategy of playing the hands that we see. One of the regulars was up in the booth the other day and I bet he learned alot by watching his fellow players and how they play hands. It will be interesting to see him play the next time if he is around this group. I am a very visual type of person so watching this should help me when I start playing the cash game soon.

Since the gas prices are so high I am wondering if it would be worth it to play in the $1-2 game in Spokane with the gas prices and all. I could just learn to play here a little bit more tightly and play the $2-20. I don't like it but I may have to learn to like it and see if I can earn my money in this game. Right now I will spend the week studying the game.

My stocks didn't do well today. I woke up and checked the market and it was down. So, Friday and Monday were down days and my account showed it. I need to just hang in there and now that I am in the market I need to work it now. I have 5 Dow stocks and 2 others. I will continue to buy and sell from the other 2 and leave the 5 Dows alone.

Friday, March 04, 2011

Here it is the end of the week and now we can go into the weekend and enjoy ourselves.

I have been toying with a schedule for playing tournament poker as well as getting into live cash games. I was emailing the NorthernQuest Casino in Spokane and finally the poker manager called me. We discussed the different options they have available. I want to play in live cash games but don't want to play in the $2-20 or $2-40 games they have here in town. If I am going to learn I want to play in either a $1-2 or $2-4 game. Spokane has a $3-6 game as well. I am trying to figure out which Tuesday I want to make the trip 2 1/2 hours to Spokane and play. I figure at this time I will only do this one day per month.

At this time I am going to continue to play at Jokers in only one of their tournaments. This will be the Friday afternoon game with T$10,000 starting chips and 20 minute rounds. This allows more time to skillfully play the game. Plus this is really close to the tournament structure of Wildhorse and NorthernQuest.

In April I have two dates already on my list. April 5 will be at NorthernQuest and April 19 at Wildhorse playing in the seniors event. The rest of my time will be studying the game.

I finally made a decision with my stock trading. I have purchased the small dogs of the dow and will let them run. I have done this before and it was working well for me. I did leave half of my capital to trade anytime I wanted if I felt I found a stock that met my criteria. I will be watching the market more and watching the stocks of the Dow to make sure they are doing what I think they will be doing.

I have been reading the book "Early Retirement Extreme" and I find this book very interesting. It has a different perspective on life and how we live and how we where raised. You must think outside of the box with this one. Three things at the start of this book interested me.
1. Reduce waste and increase efficiency.
2. Invest the difference in businesses.
3. Find something meaningful to do other than work.
Then the book went into Economic Classifications.
Salary Man
Working Man
Businessman
Renaissance Man
Very interesting reading.

Oh yes, I did play in the Friday tournament. Out of 38 runners I ended up being 11th. Sounds familiar. I know what I am doing and I need to find a way to stop the thinking that I must get chips now and go all in with a hand I would normally play differently in the other stages. I went out with 55 vs KK and I didn't get better with the other 5 cards. Maybe shock therapy? I had no real reason to go all in at that time. There were others that would have needed to play and possibly go out before me. My first goal is always to get to the final table but for some reason I am sabotaging that. Got to change my thinking somehow.

Wednesday, March 02, 2011

Today is my Birthday. I am 55 years old now. How do I feel and the big question for me is what have I accomplished in my life. Every year I think about that question and I just keep right on going past thinking about what I have done. I have long gone past the time where I would consider having a midlife crisis. If you can call it that.

I still have some things that I want to accomplish. I don't want to call it a bucketlist but they are things that I want to do and see in this great land of ours.

While in High School I spent some time working with my Dad in a Service Station and that was fun for me. After College I was able to again work with my Dad as a Sales Rep for a company that we were both employed by. I learned my Dad's work ethic and to give the job the time it deserved. I am not saying it was right but that is what I learned.

After attending College for a second time I then spent 20 years in the field of Respiratory Care and since the Medical Field was something I did not want to do, since I did very poorly in Sciences, it was amazing how much I loved the job. I learned to work with the Neonates and go on Transports and work closely with a physician that taught me quite a bit about how they start their little life. Working with individuals to help them in their final days breathing in life. It was a way for me to help others. I even got the opportunity to work with a Medical Research team and was able to give a talk at a National Convention on the findings of the team working with Neonates. It was all fun.

My last seven and a half years was working in the computer field. I enjoy working with computers and the problems people have and solving those issues. It was a short time in this field but there were people that thought I wouldn't last one year. I lasted over seven and was proud of that for myself.

My life right now is still in a learning phase. There are new things I want to experience. I enjoy the stock market and all of the issues of making it work out. Learning the technical aspect of charts and what is going to happen with the company I am looking at. Trying to earn an income from my ability to work alone and depend on myself bringing an income to our house.

I have also embraced a game that I find very rewarding. The game is called Poker. This is very much a game that requires attention to detail and watching others play their game. Since I am a people watching person I find it interesting in how people play and the reactions to what happens at the table.

I like to emulate what I learn. I watch, I see and then I do. I do that in anything I get myself involved with. You show me, I repeat. I watch someone in the stock market and I do the same thing. I watch someone play I do the same thing. I follow people that know what they are doing. I guess you could call them professionals at what they do. I am always learning and will be doing that for the rest of my life.

So, what does 55 mean to me? I am a retired person now at this point and I have not given up on learning. I have life experiences to draw upon and a wonderful wife who loves me for who I am. I have children that I love and have grandchildren that I enjoy seeing grow up. I want to be able to travel around the country at some point. I do think I have to give up the dream of riding cross country on a motorcycle though. Not sure my body would allow that one. I guess I can safely say I am still having fun.